Street Photo Diary Issue 37: Spring in Dublin

Spring has arrived in the city with an unusually warm couple of days, and you could feel it in the mood of the people as they went about their daily lives. The ever changing beat of the city seemed more alive, and everyone from the tourists to the locals seemed to be energised by the nice weather.

The photos themselves are probably a bit on the boring side, being just pictures of the mundane nature of everyday life. But that’s kind of the point I was going for with this.

I was reading an article the other day about street photography and the person who wrote it was complaining about everyone’s street photography being boring.

Except theirs of course

Anyway, their chief complaint was that people are only taking photos of mundane or ordinary subjects. Their argument was that you should only be taking pictures of extraordinary situations or events.

I have to say, I totally disagree with this point of view. Part of what I love about street photography - and photography in general is finding beauty in the everyday.

There’s lots of interesting things happening all around us all the time that might seem ordinary but are important in their own way. But more than that, capturing the ordinary is important.

If you ever watch programmes about archeological discoveries, the thing that often interests archaeologists the most isn’t some freak occurrence but how the average person lived their lives.

Now I’m not saying that street photography should be some kind of historical record, but I guess it can be. With photography now having been around long enough for it to contain a record of forgotten times, it’s already becoming important in this way.

I regularly read articles about people uncovering old photos and getting really excited. Not because they showed some one off event, but because they showed how ordinary life was at the time.

At the end of the day what’s boring or interesting is subjective and your photography should reflect what you find interests you. Life is fleeting and what’s mundane today will Be history some day. Remember that the next time someone tells you your work is boring.

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